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The Tigers were among the teams to watch Magglio Ordonez work out for clubs Wednesday morning, but it hasn’t gotten them any closer to a deal to bring back the All-Star right fielder to Detroit just yet.

Boras spoke with reporters in the hallways of the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort, where baseball’s Winter Meetings are taking place this week. He spoke about a number of players, including the just-signed Carlos Pena, but his remarks on Ordonez became a popular topic.

Boras scheduled a workout for Ordonez to demonstrate the health of his surgically repaired ankle, which Boras has said in recent weeks is fully healed and has allowed him to adopt a normal workout regimen. Boras would not say where the workout took place, but since Ordonez has been working out near his home in South Florida, and with the Winter Meetings are taking place here, one would expect he worked out in Florida rather than his native Venezuela.

“We had a workout today with Magglio where he got a chance to illustrate where he got a chance to illustrate just where his baseball abilities were at,” Boras said. “That took place this morning. Teams got to see that. I really don’t know [how many teams] because I haven’t gotten the report. I know that Detroit was there for sure.”

The Tigers have gone into silence about their interest in Ordonez, his health, and contract negotiations, citing new baseball rules limiting their comments about free agents. However, they’re known to be interested, as are at least two other clubs with the Red Sox and Rangers.

Ordonez is seeking at least a two-year deal, according to a source. Boras wouldn’t confirm that Wednesday, preferring to let the market decide, but he indicated the market on Ordonez has grown in recent days since Jayson Werth’s seven-year deal with the Nationals.

“Magglio is a guy that has gotten a lot of interest from a lot of teams now that Jayson has signed,” said Boras. “He’s a middle of the [order] guy. He’s had a great batting average, been a productive guy, he’s a veteran player and he’s a winner. There are a lot of things about Magglio Ordonez where he fits a broad base of teams. Once Jayson signed, a lot of the teams interested in Jayson are now interested in Magglio.”

The Tigers were rumored among the most serious suitors for Jayson Werth,
who just signed a seven-year, $126 million deal with the Nationals. But
team president/general manager Dave Dombrowski said their interest
didn’t go very far.

“The majority, and just short of all of that,
was strictly paper talk,” Dombrowski said. “We never had any serious
conversations on Jayson Werth. Not one. And the reality of it is, when
we prioritized our players, we had Victor Martinez up there, that we
pursued. And just preliminary conversations, very preliminary, where
they talk in generalities, the dollar numbers and years were just not
appealing to us.

“That’s why sometimes you move quickly in other
directions to do things. For us, it just made more sense to move in the
direction that we did.”

Agent Scott Boras, who represents Werth, said Sunday he talked quite a bit with the Tigers last week. But Boras obviously represents many more players, including fellow free-agent outfielder Magglio Ordonez, on whom the Tigers have been talking, and fellow ex-Tiger Zach Miner.

There was no sense from the Tigers that any deal with Magglio was close, nor was there a sense that it was a foregone conclusion.

The Tigers had barely arrived here at baseball’s Winter Meetings on Sunday when the Jayson Werth signing made waves through the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort. It could have a major effect on what the Tigers do here once business begins in earnest on Monday.

That includes a potential reunion with Magglio Ordonez, which now looks more viable than ever. The Tigers’ best shot at an offensive upgrade might well be a return of their former batting champion.

“I certainly know we’ll be talking,” agent Scott Boras said of the Tigers and Ordonez.

Boras made the comment after the Nationals announced their seven-year deal with Werth, whom Boras also represents. Washington reportedly outbid other interested teams by offering a longer contract at an average of $18 million per season.

The Tigers have been viewed around baseball as among the most interested teams in Werth. Team president/general manager Dave Dombrowski, however, said they weren’t in the bidding.

“We were not involved,” Dombrowski told MLB.com in an email Sunday.

Boras told MLB.com that he talked with Dombrowski quite a bit this week, on Ordonez and other topics. He said they agreed that they would continue their conversations here. It’s worth noting that Boras also represents reliever Zach Miner, whom the Tigers designated for assignment last week but whom the Tigers would be interested in bringing back.

The Angels apparently have let bygones be bygones and are meeting with agent Scott Boras, who numbers among his stable of clients Adrian Beltre, Rafael Soriano and Jayson Werth. Boras and the club reportedly had a falling out over the Mark Teixeira negotiations two winters ago, but the agent said he has met with general manager Tony Reagins and other club officials this winter, according to ESPNLos Angeles.com

Reagins confirmed that there have been discussions in the report by Mark Saxon, who suggests that Soriano is the Angels’ top target among the Boras clients to fill the void left by the trade of closer Brian Fuentes to the Twins. The Angels’ primary target continues to be outfielder Carl Crawford, but they could expand their payroll to add Soriano as well. — Lyle Spencer

The Tigers found the hitter who can protect Miguel Cabrera in the lineup
with their Victor Martinez signing. But just because Martinez can fill
the job, doesn’t mean that he will.

Jim Leyland said Friday afternoon that he’s up in the air whether to bat
Martinez third or fifth. The reason for the indecisiveness is that the
offseason moves are potentially incomplete.

“It depends on what our team looks like by the time we get to Spring
Training,” Leyland said by phone. “He’s either going to hit right in
front of [Cabrera] or right behind him.”

Asked if the fact that Martinez is a switch-hitter will play into the decision, Leyland came up with the line of the day.

“No, the fact that he’s a great hitter,” Leyland said.

Dave Dombrowski didn’t give a firm answer either way when asked if they
have the wiggle room for one more signing — which pretty much should mean
they have room. If they knew they were up against it on payroll, there
would be no reason to play coy. Whether they have the realistic potential to
compete on another big free agent, such as Carl Crawford or Jayson
Werth, is another question. So is the potential for bringing back
Magglio Ordonez, which Dombrowski didn’t want to address Friday.

He did indicate that the one area where they have the opening for an addition is in the corner outfield.

“We’ve actually made four signings this wintertime, so I think what
we’ll probably do next week is sit back [and analyze],” Dombrowski said.

The arbitration deadline was expected to rule the day, but
it wound up being the Tigers that made the big splash. In a rather surprising
turn of events in this offseason, coveted free-agent catcher Victor Martinez
said no to the Red Sox and wound up agreeing to a four-year,
$50 million contract with the Tigers.

The agreement, which a baseball source confirmed to MLB.com, is probably still pending a
physical and should be completed shortly.
At that point, the Tigers would officially be able to add Martinez to a middle
of the lineup that includes fellow Venezuelan Miguel Cabrera.

Here’s more from around the league Tuesday …

* After a bounce-back year that saw him make $3 million, Aubrey Huffinked
a two-year contract reportedly worth $22 million with the Giants. The
deal also includes a club option for 2013.

* Diamondbacks general manager Kevin Towers told MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert that
of all the clubs expressing interest in outfielder Justin Upton, only
“two or three” teams have the players to make a deal work. Towers
says he seeks Major League-ready players in return, not just prospects.

* The Yankees prefer to give standout free-agent closer Mariano Rivera
just a one-year deal worth upwards of $18 million, according to Yahoo! Sports.
But Rivera, 41 next week, seeks two guaranteed years at that rate.

* As for the Yankees’ other aging pitcher, Andy Pettitte is leaning towards a return to the Bronx, according to the Twitter account of Newsday’s Kevin Davidoff.

* And as for the free-agent pitcher the Yankees hope to land, an industry source told Yahoo! Sports on Monday that New York offered Cliff Lee a six-year contract worth nearly $140 million. But Lee seeks a seventh year.

* Jarrod Washburn, the 36-year-old left-hander who sat out all of last season, “continues to generate interest as a free agent,” according to Yahoo! Sports. The Brewers are believed to be one of the teams that have contacted his agent.

* Arbitration Day is in full swing. So far, Jayson Werth, Adam Dunn, Adrian Beltre and Paul Konerko have been among the ranked free agents being offered arbitration, while Derek Jeter, Mike Lowell, Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon have been among those who have not. The deadline is 11:59 p.m. ET.

The Red Sox, to the
surprise of almost no one, have reached out to agent Scott Boras to express
their interest in free-agent outfielder Jayson Werth, ESPNBoston.com reported
on Monday, attributing an unnamed baseball source.

Boras did not
immediately return a phone call from MLB.com.

The exclusive window
for free agents to negotiate with the clubs they finished the previous season
with ended on Sunday, so clubs can now reach out to any free agent.
Negotiations for Werth are expected to be a drawn-out process, considering the
money he’ll land and the track record of the agent representing him.

Werth hit .296 with 27
homers and 85 RBIs in 156 games last season. From 2008-10, he’s hit .279 with
29 homers and 84 RBIs.

Last year, free-agent
outfielder Matt Holliday – a Boras client – inked a seven-year, $120 million
contract with the Cardinals, while Jason Bay signed for four years and $66
million with the Mets. Werth’s price range is predicted to be somewhere in that
range.

Baseball’s biggest spenders showed no hesitation in going after this year’s biggest name on the pitching market. According to multiple reports, the Yankees contactedCliff Lee‘s agent practically right away once free agency officially began at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.

That the Yankees are targeting Lee, who went 12-9 with a 3.18 ERA between Seattle and Texas and went to the World Series for a second straight season, is no secret. The question is whether they’ll offer enough to woo him away from the American League Champion Rangers, or any other suitors – the Nationals, anyone?

The Tigers have agreed to terms with shortstop Jhonny Peralta on a two-year, $11.25 million contract, MLB.com’s Jason Beck reports. The deal is expected to be announced in the next couple days, and comes with a third-year club option and buyout.

FoxSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal reported late Sunday that Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla rejected a four-year, $48 million offer to keep his talents in South Beach. Potentially a free agent next winter, Uggla is arbitration eligible is this year. Rosenthal writes that Uggla turned down the offer in part because another free agent with similar numbers is likely to command more money: Jayson Werth.

As MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo wrote last week was an expected move, reports confirmed Sunday that Boston bench coach DeMarlo Hale is to interview for the Mets’ manager job early this week. Hale, 49, has been with Boston for the last five years.

The Tigers have interest in Magglio Ordonez, and Ordonez has interest in staying with the Tigers. Starting Sunday, other teams and other free-agent outfielders will get to enter the mix and negotiate with each other. And the talk won’t just be on the Tigers side.

While the Tigers hit the free-agent market in search of a run producer for the middle of their order, Ordonez’s agent, Scott Boras, expects to gather interest in his client from several teams. So if an Ordonez return to Detroit is going to happen, it isn’t likely to happen quickly.

“We’ve gotten a lot of early calls,” Boras said. “I think with this marketplace, the right-handed hitters of that ilk, like Magglio, there’s going to be a very strong demand for them.”

How much of an impact Ordonez’s ankle makes on his offseason remains to be seen. He’ll turn 37 at the end of January, and Tigers fans witnessed Scott Sizemore’s slow recovery from ankle surgery this past season. Boras, however, echoed comments Ordonez made to Venezuelan reporter Augusto Cardenas last month, that his ankle is at 90 percent and strengthening.

“I think a lot is being made of a standard fracture, what a lot orthopedic surgerons say a minor fracture,” Boras said. “There’s no issue with flexibility, weight bearing, anything like that. It was really just a very simple fracture. It simply took some time to heal. This was not a complicated event. There really will not be any time frame where teams will wait and see if he has any trouble performing.”

There’s a huge advantage for Ordonez in this market if he’s viewed as a full-time outfielder. The outfield market drops off significantly beyond top free agents Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth, unless there are teams that see Adam Dunn, Vladimir Guerrero and Hideki Matsui as full-time outfielders. Ordonez was an everyday right fielder at the time of his injury, and while his short strides towards fly balls looked uncertain at times, his routes were generally true. The one question would be the ankle, and Boras doesn’t expect it to be an issue.

He’s strong enough about it that he doesn’t expect Ordonez to play winter ball — not that he can’t, but that he shouldn’t.

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